Advisory Board

The Chemical engineering advisory board, founded in 1979, was one of the first advisory boards in the College of Engineering and Natural Sciences. The board originally included about 10 members and has grown over the years to 24 members. With a few exceptions, the board consists of successful alumni who are eager to serve our department and the overall university. The board meets formally twice a year on Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings in the fall and spring semesters. The Friday session begins with a lunch where undergraduate and graduate students are invited to share their thoughts and concerns about the chemical engineering program. After the lunch, the chemical engineering chair, college dean and faculty report on activities. The school prepares an annual report, which forms a basis for the fall meeting. The board meets privately on Saturday mornings and then reports its findings and recommendations to the faculty and the chair.

A loyal, helpful, and generous group of board members, these individuals have contributed to naming the school, funding the college’s first departmental computer lab in 1991, building equipment for our unit operations lab, endowing two chaired professorships, establishing two provost level endowed scholarships, establishing three endowment funds for the department and creating many other scholarship funds. In addition to this support, they help us keep our curriculum current such as the incorporation of safety in the curriculum and the integration of computing into the curriculum. The board also reviews course objectives and curricular items for appropriate industrial application.